rhe work of Henri Lefebvre, lhe only major French intelleclual of lhe post .Yar period to give exlensive consideralion to the city and urban life, has since he publication in English of The Production of Space, received considerable 1ttention among both academics and practitioners of the built environment. rhis new collection brings togelher for lhe first lime in English, Lefebvre's ·eRections on the city and urban life written over a span of some twenty years. fhe selection of writings is contexlualized by an inlroduction - ilself a ;ignificant contribution to the interpretation of Henri Lefebvre -which places he material within the contexl of Lefebvre's intellectual and political life and imes and raises pertinent issues as to their relevance for contemporary debates )Ver such questions as the nature of urban reality, the production of space and nodernity. Writings on Cities is of particular relevance to architects, planners, geographers, and those interested in the philosophical and political understanding of contemporary life. Eleonore Kofman is Professor in the Department of lnternalional Studies at Nouingham Trent University. Elizabeth Le bu is Senior Lecturer in the School of Geography and Environmental Management at Middlesex University. Both have researched and written extensively on French urbanization and urban theory. Cover illustralion: Le re/our a la dia/ectique, douze mols cl.is. Paris: Messidor, Edition• Sociales, 1986, page 13. Constant was a member of the Sihrntionalist• lnternatmnal unhl he left Jt in 1960. His writings include Pour une circhiteclure Je silualion (I 9S3). Between 19S6 and 1960 he worked with the Dutch architect Aldo van Eyck on a series of models for wha1 they called 1he New Babylone Project. Lefebvre was inRuenced by Constanl's emphasis on playandtherighttothec1tyasaplaceofplayandel)(:OUOler. Cover design by Workhaus Graphics Writings on CITIES Henri Lefebvre Translated and Edited by ELEONORE KOFMAN AND ELIZABETH LEBAS Writings on Cities 'To our mothers, Rachel Kofman and Fernande Lemouton.' Writings on Cities HENRI LEFEBVRE Selected, translated and introduced by Eleonore Kofman and Elizabeth Lebas English translation, Introduction and ediloria1 arrangement copyright C Eleonore Kofman and Elizabeth Lcbas, 1996 English translation first published 1996 Reprinted 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000 Blackwell Publishers Ltd 108 Cowley Road Oxford OX4 IJF, UK Blackwell Publishers Inc J!IOMainStreet Malden, Massachusetts 02148, USA All rights reserved. Exe.cpl for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission ofthepubllsher. Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. British library Cataloguing 111 Publicatlo11 Doto A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library library ofC ongress Cataloging in Publication Doto Lefebvre, Henri, 1905- Writings on cities/Henri Lefebvre; selected, translated, and introduced by Eleonore Kofman and Elizabeth Lcbas. p. cm. Translated from the French. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0--631-19187-9 - ISBN 0--631-19188-7 (pbk) I. Cities and towns. I. Kofman, Eleonore. II. Lebas, Elizabeth. III. Title. HTIS3.L34!1 1996 95-12470 J07.70--dc20 CIP Typeset by Pure Tech Corporation, Pondicheny, India Printed and bound in Great Britain by by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin, ComwaJl This book is printed on acid-free paper Contents Acknowledgements vii PART I JNfRODUCTION 1 Lost in Transposition -Time, Space and the City PART II RIGHT TO THE CITY Preface 63 Industrialization and Urbanization 65 Philosophy and the City 86 Fragmentary Sciences and Urban Reality 94 Philosophy of the City and Planning Ideology 97 The Specificity of the City 100 Continuities and Discontinuities 104 Levels of Reality and Analysis 111 10 Town and Country 118 11 Around the Critical Point 122 12 On Urban Form 133 13 Spectral Analysis 139 CONTENTS 14 The Right to the City 147 15 Perspective or Prospective? 160 16 The Realization of Philosophy 175 17 Theses on the City, the Urban and Planning 177 PARTIII SPACE AND POLmcs 18 Introduction 185 19 Institutions in a 'Post-technological' Society 198 PART IV INTERVIEWS 20 No Salvation away from the Centre? 205 21 The Urban in Question 209 PART V ELEMENTS OF RHYTHMANAL YSIS 22 Seen from the Window 219 23 Rhythmanalysis of Mediterranean Cities 228 Index 241 Acknowledgements We would like to thank all those who gave us their time and hospi tality, which enabled us to deepen our understanding of Lefebvre's ideas, his relationships with architects, urbanists and intellectuals, his influence in France, and not least, the imprint of his personality on his thinking. Thanks also to those with whom we discussed general issues raised in the Introduction. In particular We would like to mention Roland Castro, Katherine Coit, Jean-Pierre Garnier, Antoine Haumont, Remi Hess, Armelle Lefebvre, jean-Pierre Lefebvre, Catherine Lefebvre-Rc!gulier, Jean de Matelaere, Makan Rafadtjou, Henri Raymond, Serge Renaudie, Christian Schmid. The bookshelves of Pascal Bulfon and Patrice Cotensin suggested some much appreciated, and not obvious, reading. Special thanks to Finn Barnow for reading the Introduction and Louise CotC-Read for her invaluable corrections of all translations. We would also like to thank Middlesex Universicy and Nottingham Trent University for financial help and sabbaticals, and the Centre de Recherche sur !'Habitat, Nanterre, where Eleonore Kofman spent part of her sabbatical. We would like to thank the following copyright holders for per mission to translate and reproduce material, as follows: Anthropos for permission to translate Le Droit iJ la Ville. Catherine Lefebvre-Regu lier for permission to translate 'Essai de rythmanalyse des villes me diterraneennes'; Espaces Temps 33, 1980, pp. 17-19 for permission to translate Lefebvre's article 'Hors du centre, point de salut?'; Editions Syllepse for permission to translate 'Vue de la fenCtre', chapter 3 from Henri Lefebvre's Elbnents de Rythmanalyse. Introduction a la con naissance des rythmes. SociCtC Fram;aise for 'L'Urbain en question' 33, 1989, pp 44-7.